Nigeria readies for Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines

Nigeria will receive 100,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine by early February, according to officials.

But they have to be stored in cold temperatures and getting them to rural areas will prove difficult.

Nigeria has found a way though through its ultra-cold chain equipment.

"What we do have coming to the country is the Pfizer vaccines that require about -70 degrees Celsius," said Dr Faisal Shuaib, director-general of the National Primary Healthcare Development Agency (NPHDA)

"This is why we are actively making sure that we have those vaccines and also bearing in mind that additional vaccines might be brought from the Covax facility that will require these types of temperatures."

According to Shuaib, the NPHDA already has three Ultra Cold Chain (UCC) equipment on the ground.

"Three of them have a total capacity of 2,100 liters. So, we have more than enough space for the 100,000 doses of the vaccine that will be brought in the first instance," he said.

But the country is also looking for easier alternatives.

"We will be focusing more on those vaccines that do not require these kinds of complicated cold chain mechanisms. So the Oxford-Astrazeneca types of vaccine that require +2 to +8 degrees Celsius are what we are going to be focusing on," he said

Africa's most populous country has had over 114,000 infections and almost 1,500 deaths since the outbreak began.